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The Mind Game

Today I start the process of Transcendental Meditation. I am doing it for several reasons. I won’t go into all of it, but one thing that I am intrigued about more than anything is how the mind works. I say it all the time, I would love to get my sports psychology degree. On a daily basis I work with clients and see how much their mind holds them back. Their physical ability is consistently held back by their mental strength. If you can learn to control the mind you will go places you never dreamed of…..in fitness and in life.

My brother and I went on a trail run yesterday and had a discussion about this. We tend to have some of our best convos while running….not a coincidence, the brain and mind function better with exercise. (How do people live without exercise?!?) Anyway, I told him about me starting TM, and we went into the mental game of running, and how it is one of the reasons we race. We talked about some clients that we would expect to finish faster at races. Why don’t they? Is it that they are not physically capable? No. It is because they are not mentally ready to drive past uncomfortable. They are stuck in a comfortable zone, and they may even think they are at uncomfortable, but they can go so much harder.

What is uncomfortable? It is that place that the outsider will look at and think you are “nuts”. It is the story you don’t tell to the non-athletes because they will never get it. It is the moment of the NBC viewing of the IRONMAN that most wonder, what kind of person does this? (I will say, watching the video Sian Welch & Wendy Ingraham – The Crawl – 1997 I think that same thing!)But, when you have done a race or trained and pushed past that moment when you thought you were done and continued to push on….then you get it. It is the story of life. It is what makes some successful, while others stay average. It is pushing past the point that others will never even get to. In races and in life it is always a matter of hanging on when others have chosen to give up.

So, I hope to get a lot out of my TM. One thing I hope to do is understand this mind of mine a little more, becasue as hard as I now how and have pushed, I know I am capable of more….we are ALL capable of more.